Surrey Heights

Updated 24 March 2025

Date of Assessment: 14 and 15 April 2025.
Surrey Heights is a residential care home providing support to adults of all ages living with dementia. At the time of our inspection, the service was home to 25 people. Surrey Heights can accommodate a maximum of 39 people. This assessment was prompted following concerns received around people’s risk management, safeguarding people from risk of harm or abuse and governance of people’s care.
People were not always fully protected and kept safe. Medicines were not always managed or administered safely as prescribed. People and their relatives were not always involved in assessments and reviews of their needs. Some care plans lacked detail and were not always reflective of people’s most current needs. Risks to people around areas such as their mobility were not always safely managed to prevent risk of harm. Staff did not ensure people’s informed consent was always obtained, and decisions were not always taken in people’s best interest where they did not have mental capacity. The manager did not have effective oversight of all staff members training and competency assessments. The management team investigated most incidents. However, we found some incidents were not investigated and reported to the local authority safeguarding team when required. The service did not always work well with external health and social care partners, to ensure people were able to access services when they needed them.
There were generally enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience. People were supported by a compassionate and knowledgeable management and staff team who showed kindness and empathy when engaging with people.
People were confident their privacy and dignity were being upheld. Staff mostly responded to people in a timely way. The provider supported staff wellbeing. Staff felt supported to give feedback and were treated equally, free from bullying or harassment.
At this inspection, we found breaches of regulations related to safe care and treatment, medicines management, safeguarding, consent and governance.

Updated 24 March 2025

During our assessment, we found people's care did not always meet expected standards. People were not always enabled to make independent choices about their meals. Care records did not always accurately reflect people's needs. Systems and processes in place to ensure safe medicine management were not robust. People had been put at risk as a result of the management of medicine, lack of oversight and governance.

However, despite the issues we identified, people and their relatives were positive about the quality of care and support they received. People described how staff treated them with kindness. People told us they felt safe, and we observed activities were available for people to engage with for social wellbeing.

Some people could not directly tell us about their experience. We used observations, reviewed care plans, daily notes and risk assessments to assess whether they received good care. We observed people were listened to and staff interacted positively with them.